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Bush Delivers Sixth State of The Union
International Roundtable On State of The Union, State of
The World
Bush Delivers Sixth State of The Union
President Bush delivered his sixth State of the Union address
at a time when he is facing some of the lowest approval ratings
of his presidency. With his address, Bush hoped to lift his
political standing and give a boost to his Republican allies
in Congress who will be facing tough mid-term elections in
November. However, the speech was noticeable for its absence
of grand proposals to address the many challenges that the
country faces. Among his few proposals, Bush called for a
75% reduction of the United States’ dependence on Middle
Eastern oil – despite the fact oil from the region accounts
for only 11% of the country’s fuel imports.
President Bush touched on a range of topics including what
he called the nation’s addiction to foreign oil, skyrocketing
health care costs, Hurricane Katrina, troubled U.S. schools,
and ballooning budget deficits.
The President offered only small-scale initiatives in his
speech, including a commission to examine the impact of baby
boomers on social security, a new emphasis on math and science
education in schools, and more money for research into alternative
energy sources. He did not offer any new plans for rebuilding
New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Nor any new
ideas on how to control lobbying abuses in Congress –
an issue that has recently received national attention with
the investigation of powerful lobbyist and major Bush fundraiser,
Jack Abramoff.
The President also urged Congress to renew the Patriot Act.
He vigorously defended his domestic spying program, and called
for making permanent the temporary tax cuts that were passed
in the first two years of his administration.
President Bush spent the first part of his State of the Union
speech on global issues. He dismissed calls to pull the troops
out of Iraq and insisted that the U.S. was wining the so-called
war on terror. He also defended his vision of the U.S. as
leading the fight to defend freedom and promote democracy
around the world. Here is an excerpt from President Bush’s
speech last night. The President also defended the war in
Iraq, calling it the "central front" on the War
on Terror. With the war entering it’s fourth year and
more than 2,240 American troops dead and countless number
of Iraqis killed- the President rejected any timetable for
bringing the troops back from Iraq. Minutes before Bush began
his address, Cindy Sheehan - anti-war activist and mother
of a fallen solider - was arrested by Capitol police for wearing
an anti-war shirt in the gallery. Cindy had been invited to
hear the President’s speech by California representative
Lynn Woolsey, who has called for pulling U.S. troops out of
Iraq.
International Roundtable On State of The Union, State
of The World
A roundtable of top international journalists reacts to
Bush’s State of the Union address, and gives us their
take on the state of affairs in their respective countries
and around the world. We’re joined by Andres Izarra,
President of the newly-launched Latin American television
network TeleSUR; Alain Gresh, Chief Editor of France"s
Le Monde Diplomatique; and Abdul Bari Atwan, Editor in Chief
at Al-Quds Al Arabi - a leading, London-based newspaper on
the Middle East.
- Andres Izarra, President of TeleSUR, a two-month old
multinational satellite network launched by Argentina, Bolivia,
Cuba and Venezuela. Prior to that, he was Venezuala’s
Minister of Communications and Information under President
Chavez.
- Alain Gresh, Chief Editor of France’s Le Monde
Diplomatique. He is president of the Association of French
Journalists specializing in Morroco and the Middle East
and is author of several books on the Middle East.
- Abdul Bari Atwan, Editor in Chief at Al-Quds Al Arabi
- a leading newspaper in the Middle East - since 1989. He
is also author of the new book Secret History of al Qa’ida.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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